Former Research Staff member Sara Seager, now an Associate Professor at M.I.T’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, has won the American Astronomical Society’s (AAS) 2007 Helen B. Warner Prize, awarded annually for a significant contribution to observational or theoretical astronomy during the five preceding years of the award.

Seager received the prize for developing “fundamental techniques for understanding, analyzing, and finding the atmospheres of extrasolar planets,” according to the AAS. Previous recipients include, Riccardo Giacconi, Allan R. Sandage, and Maarteen Schmidt.